1) At least link to the thread. 2) My understanding is that viruses swap DNA with surprising regularity: new study finds that viruses share some genes exclusively with cells that are not their hosts. The study, reported in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology, adds to the evidence that viruses swap genes with a variety of cellular organisms and are agents of diversity, researchers say.
I found it on HN. I posted the wrong article at first. I’m reserving judgement atm. I want to hear from more voices that can give statistical bases, and I want to do some sequence comparisons myself. Viruses mutate, but that doesn’t mean this is easily explained away. The HIV genome is one of the most commonly used in genetic manufacture, and it’s not one commonly found in the wild.